Members of cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament. Members sit in a horseshoe-shaped pattern with the Government (the African National Congress) to the right of the speaker and the Opposition (the Democratic Alliance and others) to the left - just like at Westminster in Britain (they even call the recording of debates Hansard as in the UK). Floor-crossing was an extremely contentious issue, with commentators arguing in doing so, politicians were ‘reallocating’ votes and disrespecting the will of voters, who voted for a party list rather than individual MPs. Municipalities of South Africa as of 2011 (source: Wikipedia). On ordinary bills not affecting the provinces (Section 75, see immediately below), the NCOP votes individually, each delegate having one vote. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is responsible for instituting criminal proceedings on behalf of the state. According to the Constitution, “the President must appoint the judges of all other courts on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.”, Following the Seventeenth Amendment (2013), the Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary. There are nine provinces: the Eastern Cape (EC), the Free State (FS), Gauteng (GT), KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Limpopo (LP), Mpumalanga (MP), the Northern Cape (NC), the North West (NW) and the Western Cape (WC). The City of Johannesburg, the most populated municipality in South Africa, has 260 municipal councillors and 130 wards. Once the allocation is final, the number of wards won by each respective party is subtracted from its final seat allocation. The current constitution, the country's fifth, was drawn up by the Parliament elected in 1994 in the first non-racial elections. Subsection 3 bills, which is the only kind of legislation which may originate in the NCOP, includes bills falling under functional areas listed in Schedule 4 (concurrent national and provincial powers) and five sections of the constitution. The three categories are municipalities, as of 2014, are Metropolitan Municipalities (MM), Local Municipalities (LMs) and District Municipalities (DMs). South Africa’s politics took its current form around 1990s era. The President may not serve more than two terms, although the period between a vacancy (when applicable) and the regular election of the President is not regarded as a term. The size of the legislature is proportional to population, ranging from 30 members in the Northern Cape to 80 in KwaZulu-Natal. In the General Election of 2019, it won 57.5% of the vote (down from 62.2% in 2014) and secured 230 seats in the National Assemby (a reduction of 19). Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. However, members could only cross the floor if a tenth of his/her caucus did likewise – a clause which effectively barred MPs from crossing the floor from a large party (such as the ruling party which had a huge majority) but allowed MPs from minor parties to cross the floor very easily.

Section 42.4 of the Constitution defines the NCOP’s powers and responsibilities as follows: The National Council of Provinces represents the provinces to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government.

Some 20 million South Africans (around 40% of the population) are so-called "born-frees" - that is, they were born after the overthrow of apartheid. The legislatures are elected every five years by a system of party-list proportional representation. Two decades on, there is much less excitement about voting and growing disillusionment with the ANC.

DMs are usually responsible for integrated planning, the bulk supply of utilities and services/amenities serving the area of the DM as a whole. The Constitution limits a president to serve a maximum of two five-year terms. The NCOP may pass a bill amended by the National Assembly; in cases of disagreements (Assembly rejection, NCOP rejection of Assembly amendments) the matter is sent to a Mediation Committee made up of nine members of the National Assembly (with the ‘representation of parties in substantially the same proportion that the parties are represented in the Assembly’) and one delegate from each NCOP provincial delegation. Seat allocation for metropolitan and local councils (source: IEC). As of the last election (2011), there were 4,277 wards in South Africa. As a compromise, Pretoria was made the administrative capital, Cape Town was designated the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein became the judicial capital.

If the President has reservations about the constitutionality of the bill, he refers it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration (the NCOP must participate in the reconsideration of Section 74 constitutional amendments or Section 76 bills, or on procedural matters relating to the NCOP). Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. If this total is smaller than the number of seats in the National Assembly, unallocated seats are awarded to the parties according to the descending order of their remainders, up to a maximum of five seats. Below the national level, it operates through nine provinces which are Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape, and Western Cape. Under the constitution guidelines, the Parliament of South Africa now incorporates two bodies via the Senate and the National Assembly. The NCOP is made up of 90 members, with each of South Africa’s nine provinces sending a single delegation made up of ten members. All South African citizens over the age of 16 with a valid identity document may register to vote, although only registered voters above the age of 18 are eligible to vote. There are 44 districts and 226 local municipalities. The National Assembly has full legislative powers on most matters.